Rusty Cage

Life Soundtracks #5

Six college DJS packed into the car a little before midnight, a tan station wagon with blue vinyl seats and manual accessories. Ten hours of highway lay ahead, kept alive by scorched gas-station coffee, salty snacks, and a bag of cassettes. None of us had been to CMJ before; in the fall of 1991 this felt like a rite of passage as the underground went mainstream. Barely out of town we lost our college station’s signal, and someone suggested popping in a tape.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” Lance said, sliding in an advance labeled Badmotorfinger.

The song began with Kim Thayil’s churning guitar, a repetitive pulse that unfurled like a battle flag, pulling us into the fight. Matt Cameron’s drums locked in, pushing both song and car forward. By the time Chris Cornell snarled, “You wired me awake and hit me with a hand of broken nails,” our spirits were high, the car alive with sound. We listened straight through, every song etching itself into memory, a soundtrack that would brand a generation.

The tape flipped and started again as we hugged I-81 through Virginia.

“Let’s listen to something else,” I said, rifling through the cassettes.

Lance punched the eject button. Nothing. The tape was stuck.

Thayil’s guitar started again, relentless. The road stretched ahead, endless and electric. By the time we reached the Holland Tunnel, we were tired, hungry, and certain that something was about to happen. We didn’t know it yet, but it already had.

This One’s Called… “Rusty Cage.”